Courtyard by Marriott Houston Rice University — Hotel in Houston

During my most recent stay, I happened to find a dead cockroach under the edge of the far side of the bed. After looking around the room, I found yet another under the couch when I pulled it from the wall. Since it was 2am, and my GF was already asleep, I decided to sleep in the desk chair until morning to speak with a manager. When speaking to the manager, one Lawanda Washington, she explained that they wouldn’t be able to refund any of my stay, due to having booked through a 3rd party. She then offered me “bueno points,” but I didn’t have a rewards account with them. Upon telling my GF, who actually booked the room, she asked me to make an account and handle it with the manager. After picking her up from her appointment, I went to the manager and explained that I had made an account, and was willing to accept the points. This is when she told me that she had sent an employee to my room, while I was gone mind you, and that “they had found no evidence of roaches in my room, and I would have to deal with my booking agency. And that she had seen the video they took of my room.” I went straight to my room, expecting to find the roaches cleaned up. BUT, NOT ONLY were the roaches still there, upon closer inspection there were actually 3 roach carcasses under the couch!!! When I went back up to the front desk to ask her to come look at the room, she and her desk agent were hiding in the back area. With a slightly raised voice, since no employee was immediately attainable, I said “excuse me ma’am but the roaches are still in my room.” She came out EXTREMELY quickly and began to threaten and berate me. “YOU WONT BE YELLING IN MY HOTEL! I WILL HAVE YOU REMOVED!!!” She was borderline screaming at this point. So, I told her that I didn’t want to be in her roach infested hotel, and that I was already gathering my things to leave. I left her vicinity, as I do not like being called a liar, nor being threatened. We gathered our things, took these photos, and left. I have an open case with the corporate office, but don’t believe they will do anything about this.

For $180+ a nights stay, in advance mind you, I expect a roach-free room. And when there’s a problem, I expect NOT to be called a liar to my face. Instead of coming to the room herself to investigate, she decided to call a customer a liar, and then berate them while refusing to acknowledge there may be an issue. As a customer service employee of over a decade and a half, a decade of which in management, I don’t yell, I don’t berate, and I don’t lie. This was the worst decision a manager can make. And now, I’m here to tell you about it so you can avoid this royal dumpster fire of a business.

I have full videos showing the entire room, should Marriott decide to contest the photos.

PS. Someone’s car was robbed at this location the same night. My GF overheard another customer explaining this to the desk employee as we left. Like it needed to get any worse…

MARRIOTT EMPLOYEE, AKA YOU LAWANDA, DO NOT POST YOUR STANDARD CUT AND PASTE RESPONSE TO THIS AS I WILL CALL OUT THAT CROCK EVEN HARDER!

(Added) So, I filed my complaint with Corp, it’s been a few months. No response to the service complaint from the company in any way. It seems the problem may be bigger than just...

I recently extended my stay at Courtyard by Marriott at Rice University due to a canceled flight, but this led to a series of deeply disappointing and frustrating experiences.

Firstly, the hotel services were underwhelming. The staff were not welcoming or friendly, which is not what I expected from a Marriott establishment. Despite reaching out to Marriott BonVoy three times, the hotel failed to address my concerns or take any meaningful action.

A particularly distressing incident occurred with my payment for the additional nights. My card was initially declined despite showing an 'approved' message. When I tried to resolve this with the front office agent and the Manager over the phone, the situation was handled very unprofessionally. My card was approved upon reattempt, but the transaction still failed in their system. In a shocking turn of events, I was rudely asked to vacate the hotel at 11:30 pm. When I offered to pay in cash, I was told that the hotel does not accept cash payments.

This situation forced me to make expensive long-distance calls to my banks in Jordan and Qatar, only to confirm that the authorization had indeed been approved from their end. It turned out that the error was due to the front office's mishandling of their payment system. This critical detail was overlooked by the staff, who instead chose to unjustly blame me and my financial institutions. Payment eventually went through and they never even apologized for keeping me there for almost an our and half trying to convince them not to vacate me and I have no problem with my banks.

Such treatment and lack of professionalism are unacceptable, especially from a reputed hotel chain like Marriott. This experience has left me deeply disappointed, and I would not recommend this hotel based on the poor service and the unprofessional manner in which my situation was handled.

To Respond to your Reply:

Thank you for your prompt reply to my review. It's heartening to see such quick acknowledgment after the comprehensive and conclusive discussions we've already had via email.

I must say, I find it rather intriguing that my feedback is now being shared with the front desk leadership team for review. This comes as a surprise, especially considering the previous assurances that my concerns had been thoroughly discussed with, and endorsed by, the General Manager and higher management. It's fascinating how new layers of review and improvement seem to unfold post-review, despite our apparent 'impasse.'

While I appreciate your gesture of hoping for my return, it's quite a conundrum. Given the finality and confidence expressed in your previous communications about the resolution of my case, one wonders what new experiences await me should I choose to stay at your establishment again.

Nevertheless, I thank you for your dedication to hospitality and the continuous journey of learning and improvement it evidently entails. May our paths cross again, perhaps in a setting where the high standards you aspire to are more than just...

Made a reservation for the week. Flight got delayed. Checked in via mobile app and tried calling hotel multiple times to make sure rooms were held with no answer. We arrived the next day to our rooms being cancelled for the week and the hotel being sold out. Brittany at night took care of us and was simply amazing. She deserves more. She got us into rooms for the night and let us know we would just have to switch rooms the next day due to availability. She advised us to talk to the GM in the morning about our troubles contacting the hotel and our reservations being cancelled improperly. Side note- The next lady who worked night shifts was unpleasant as well until I mentioned having to speak to the manager about our problem in the morning and her attitude flipped. She was the one who didn’t answer the phone all night for whatever reason. We spoke to the manager in the morning and it was like talking to a wall. Lawanda Washington was completely dismissive and refused to help in any way. She wouldn’t even look at the computer to try to assist in any way. She focused on what she couldn’t do for us and when I asked what she could do she said nothing at all. Now, I have worked customer experience for over ten years and was appalled by her service. It’s shocking how people are so unwilling to be helpful these days. We were charged for the night we didn’t stay and they charged us improperly for the night we were able to stay before being turned away.

In terms of the hotel, it’s a facade as others mention. It looks upgraded but was not done properly. The bed in the king suite was uncomfortable and squeaked with every move. Sprinkler caps were hanging off the sprinklers. The bathroom wasn’t updated and the shower curtain rod was hanging on by a thread. The soap dispenser in the shower is placed right where one would stand so you bump in to it the entire time. There’s no sort of security on premises and people certainly take advantage of that. There was trash in the hallways, food cartons left in the middle of the hall and a luggage cart left blocking the walking space in the hallway. Everything was still littered in the hallway the next morning as well.

Overall, let’s just be honest- you deserve better. This Marriott is not reflective of the service level or overall quality to be called a courtyard Marriott. Do yourself the favor of avoiding this location at all costs. You’ll be much happier elsewhere. I travel for work and stay in a different hotel every week. Trust me. This place...